It is a rare day that the Court of Appeals, New York's
highest Court, deals with trust and estate matters, let alone
something as granular as the validity of an in terrorem clause. But
speaketh they did, on April 17, 2025, in a lengthy opinion with a
13-page dissent to boot (Carlson v. Colangelo, 2025 NY Slip Op
02264).
In this case, the Decedent never married but he was survived by
a romantic partner, Kristine M. Carlson ("Carlson"), and
by his daughter Crissy Colangelo ("Colangelo"), whose
mother was a prior romantic partner of the Decedent. The Decedent
executed a pour-over Will and Revocable Trust the month before he
died. Under the Trust, the Decedent left his residence in Cortlandt
Manor, New York to Carlson and his "interest" in an LLC
which owned real estate to Colangelo with a statement that "it
is Grantor's sincere wish and desire that Crissy Colangelo
provide a stream of income, not to exceed the sum of $350,000 in
total, to Kristine M. Carlson." The
